The keyboardist and arranger Bob Holmes, whose name sometimes appears on credits with a missing "e," is part of the generation of West Coast session players who cut their teeth, or more aptly, polished their musical surfboards, on the rock style known as surf music. While it is often said that the hidden ambition of every session man from this period was to become one of the Beach Boys, the closest Holmes came was membership in Ronny and the Daytonas, on record anyway. That's an important distinction to make, because although records by this group include plenty of examples of his keyboard hi-jinx, Holmes was never a part of the touring ensembles that were eventually glued together to promote the recordings.
© 2008